“IRON MAN” IS NOW MOVIES’ FIFTH ELEMENT

The Stark fact is this: Iron Man 2 had the fifth-largest opening weekend on record, not the first- or second-largest, as some box-office gurus had confidently forecast last week. The movie, produced by Marvel Entertainment and distributed by Paramount, took in $133.6 million, a massive figure by anyone’s reckoning but nowhere near the $158 million that Warner Bros.’ Batman movie The Dark Knight earned when it opened in 2008. (No doubt not a few studio executives were appraising the possibility of bringing together Batman’s Bruce Wayne and Iron Man’s Tony Stark in a superhero sequel to end all superhero sequels.) Overseas, Iron Man 2 brought in $57.2 million in its second week, to bring its foreign total to $194 million. Together with its domestic total of $133.6 million, the movie has now earned $327.6 million worldwide. No other film opening domestically managed to break into double digits. Second place went to A Nightmare on Elm Street, which took in $9.1 million. How to Train Your Dragon placed third with $6.7 million, pushing it past the $200-million mark at the box office in its seventh week. Other top finishers were 4. Date Night, $5.3 million; 5. The Back-up Plan, $4.3 million; 6. Furry Vengeance, $4 million; 7. Clash of the Titans, $2.3 million; 8. Death at a Funeral, $2.1 million; 9. The Losers, $1.8 million; 10. Babies, $1.6 million.